The role and value of free listening to on-demand services (freemium) has been under scrutiny for months. Industry finances might support the logic of arguments that freemium should be limited. But is that strategy near-sighted? Continue Reading
Digital Music News is reporting that Spotify may place some restrictions on its freemium listening tier. Unnamed sources have told that site that the free, ad-supported access could be limited to just three months under a new proposal. This is the type of change that labels and publishers have been pressuring the streaming service to make, and the leaders at Universal and Sony seem to be the driving force behind the rumored proposal. Continue Reading
Research company CivicScience probed the preferences and psychographics of Spotify and Pandora users to sketch a detailed image of how they differ. Using widely distributed web-bases surveys that yielded over 8,000 replies, CivicScience sought to understand demographic and behavioral differences. Continue Reading
Spotify’s 2014 earnings include higher revenue, and wider losses, compared to a year ago. The financial news is coupled with rumors of a new angle for Spotify’s business — video. Continue Reading
This was an eventful week, and RAIN News readers told us, through their article choices, what the most important topics were. Call it RAIN News “Share of Eye.” Continue Reading
adStream is an ad-watch journal of interesting commercial sightings in streaming audio.
Spotify Free, the sometimes controversial ad-supported music service, advertises Spotify Premium in an interesting way: when the listener watches a 30-second commercial, the next 30 minutes are ad-free. Continue Reading
In what should be placed firmly in the rumor folder, technology site The Verge is reporting that Apple is pressuring music labels in their Spotify negotiations, and the U.S. Department of Justice is monitoring the situation. Continue Reading
Rumor (and more rumor) has turned to apparent fact, as CNBC is reporting that Spotify has raised a new funding round of at least $350-million, led by Goldman Sachs. The funding round closed on a “first close” basis, so new investors may yet join. Continue Reading
Spotify’s ad revenue increased 53% in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the year-ago period, RAIN News has confirmed. The revenue growth corresponds with a 50% audience growth. In the last four months, Spotify has introduced new audience targeting platforms for advertisers. Continue Reading
Spotify announced an executive promotion within its ranks. James Duffet-Smith will now be working as global head of publisher relations. He had been serving as the streaming company’s head of licensing business affairs, where his focus was on global music licensing concerns. Continue Reading
On-demand music service Spotify has announced a new audience segment for advertisers called Playlist Targeting. Brand marketers will be offered a premium opportunity to connect with behavioral audience segments derived from user engagement with Spotify’s 1.5-billion playlists. Spotify exec Brian Benedik explains it to RAIN News. Continue Reading
Spotify has four more lobbying firms now supporting its interests in Washington. The newly registered firms are focused on competition, licensing, and “platform neutrality,” sources told Politico. It also added at least two firms to provide similar services in the EU. It’s likely that this push for representation in D.C. stems from the number of big legal issues that intersect with Spotify’s core business and are currently in discussion on the Hill. Continue Reading